Bereal
Nurturing connections with enhanced user interactions
Launched in 2020, BeReal marketed itself as an “anti-social media” platform focused on authenticity, sending time-sensitive notifications for users to capture real-life moments.
After joining as a regular user in 2023, I noticed a recurring pattern: users open the app, post a photo, view friends’ posts, and exit within minutes, a broader reflection of short engagement cycles in social media.
Product Problem: Despite BeReal’s mission to promote authenticity, it faced key challenges:
Brief engagement
Users typically open the app, post their BeReal, view a few friends’ posts, and then leave, resulting in very short engagement sessions.
Limited interaction
The app offers minimal ways for users to meaningfully connect beyond their existing friends, reducing opportunities for deeper social engagement.
User Research
Discovering user's frustations
To better understand why engagement on BeReal was declining, I conducted 12 interviews and sent out a survey that got 30+ responses. This process helped uncover key motivations, frustrations, and opportunities for designing features that foster more meaningful social interactions.
Interviewee #1
"Feel fleeting…seeing posts for one day and notifications are easy to lose."
Interviewee #2
"I almost want to be reassured that my friends actually see my stuff."
Interviewee #3
"I haven’t expected anyone to react or comment on my posts."
Interviewee #4
"There’s not much I can keep commenting about that cup of matcha."
User Persona
Who is the student behind the screen
To guide my design decisions, I created user personas that represent the audience I interviewed for this feature which is college students. These personas helped illustrate users’ goals, frustrations, and behaviors, providing a human-centered lens for feature ideation.
Problem
Why engagement is dropping
Three main points stood out from surveys and user interviews. With a goal to uncover the root cause of the decrease in engagement, I analyzed user interviews which revealed sentiments of defeat and, interestingly, acceptance.
Lack of Engagement
There is a disconnect between users. Less friends are interacting through reactions, comments making posts less desirable
Temporary Content
Once notification goes off, users feel a tie being snapped and have to rebuild relationship.
Reluctant to Interact
Most users feel that there is no need to interact if it isn't seen or responded to.and grow embarassed to reach out.
How might we nurture connections on Bereal through features for enhanced engagement?
Critical Pivot Moment
I realized that displaying public tagged posts on a user's profile posed a major concern as it risked encouraging curation and reducing authenticity, contradicting Bereal's philosophy.
Shifting solutions
Fixing the Problem
To address this, I explored new solutions that preserved the playful, connection-driven spirit of the feature while ensuring it strengthened one on one interactions without promoting a curated reality.
Ideation
Designing meaningful features
In today’s social media landscape, the urge to share often gets mistaken for a need for validation, just as the act of keeping memories can be seen as clinging to the past. Before moving into ideation, I wanted to challenge these assumptions and reframe them to reflect what BeReal users truly seek, a more genuine way to share and preserve moments that feel meaningful, not performative.
I decided to move forward with designing three key features: a notification hub to promote shared interactions, a request tag system to encourage collaborative moments, and tagged posts to help strengthen friendships on BeReal. After developing mid-fidelity wireframes, I conducted two live interviews to gather user feedback and refine the designs further.
Final Features
Enhancing connection through memories
Cherished Memories
Make sharing authentic memories with friends something to remember. Tag friends in your BeReal and watch your unique, private album of shared memories grow with each friend, creating moments you’ll cherish forever.
Request Tag
Moments shared with friends and family are just as meaningful as solo ones. Tagging encourages authentic connection, and the ability to request a tag makes the process smoother, fostering engagement and celebrating shared memories.
Accept Tag Requests
Users can review and accept tag requests from friends in their BeReal posts, ensuring that tagging remains both accurate and fully consensual, keeping interactions fun. This feature also gives users control over their shared moments, fostering trust.
Shared Memories
Revisit shared BeReals where you and your friends are both tagged, private memories that only the two of you can see. From lazy couch days to fancy nights out, these moments are preserved just for you, without the pressure of public sharing.
Reflection
What I learned from this experience
Behold… my personal project case study! This personal project allowed me to deepen my expertise in designing for social engagement and mobile-first experiences. I gained hands-on experience analyzing and refining UI elements of a widely-used platform, including spacing, typography, and information hierarchy. Throughout the project, I iterated rapidly in Figma, incorporating advanced prototyping and interaction techniques to test and validate design decisions. Beyond the mechanics of design, I critically evaluated BeReal’s existing feature philosophy, learning to balance platform intent with opportunities for enhancing user engagement. This project reinforced the value of iterative design, user feedback, and thoughtful feature prioritization, and I’m proud of the solutions I developed to strengthen meaningful social connections on the platform.